Michael Oh Discusses Designing for the Longevity Economy

Michael Oh is an aerospace engineer who created what eventually became TSP Smart Home Integration when he was still living on campus at MIT. He was also our first podcast guest!This past May Michael presented at the Luxury Home Design Summit, striking a chord with the audience, as it was among the most popular presentations of the three-day affair. Titled, “Designing for the Longevity Economy: The Next Major Growth Opportunity in Luxury Residential Design,” Michael translated “demographic, economic, and behavioral insights into clear commercial opportunities for architects and design professionals.”Aging in place has been trending for years but Michael had a very fresh take on the topic. We played a clip from his presentation, cherry picking moments for him to follow up on. He is also what he calls a “serial entrepreneur.” We started our conversation with Michael unpacking that idea of “entrepreneur,” in that his partner in both life and business, Kjerstin (KJ) Oh, is very much a part of the business. She and Michael compliment each other, and this “team” approach doesn’t get talked about enough in our “raise-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" culture where too many are led to believe that being a successful entrepreneur means a solitary endeavor where one person does it all.Michael also shared his boombox story that was more of a CD playlist made to woo his future wife involving the Dixie Chicks and Bjork. We wished we could have gotten into more details, but the conversation quickly went to the technical—what type of CD and mp3 players of the day. Not a surprise!A link to the video Michael mentioned about the suit that makes you feel like an 80-year-old can be found here: https://agelab.mit.edu/methods/agnes-age-gain-now-empathy-system.